Graphic novels | Page 2 of 8

Discover Why Kids Love The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza #1,

Young readers and reluctant readers have more in common than they think. Reluctant readers in most cases just think that they don’t want to read. Assuming that we’re talking about young, elementary school ages, both groups have to find the vehicle that can get them to realize that reading is not punishment. It’s got to be a book so relentlessly fun, over the top silly that it commands young people to engage in something by themselves, for their own enjoyment. The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza is the first book in the series that takes its rightful place alongside Dog Man and Investigators as the go-to graphic novel series for ages seven and up. This book also came out a couple of years ago, so if you’re judging as to why it’s just being reviewed now, I say be curious, not judgmental.

The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza is the start of a beautiful graphic novel friendship for ages seven and up.

Like a cat video and a potato chip, but in a book

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl as the Mall!, absurd so good

That song from Mellencamp is so overplayed in the summer. Is it that terrestrial radio plays certain songs more during that time of year, or are you simply listening to the radio more? In other news, have you ever not had something because the other thing you consumed from that entity was so good? We eat at a pizza place like that. Their pizza is so great, but I’m hesitant to order other things off the menu out of fear that it wouldn’t measure up to the thing I already like from them. Nathan Hale has a pizza place, it’s called Hazardous Tales. They’re a series of non-fiction graphic novels that makes American history entertaining and allows upper-elementary through high school and older the chance to actually enjoy learning through reading. When I first saw The Mighty Bite from Nathan Hale I immediately knew it was from his kitchen, but I didn’t try any of it. The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second entry in this series and proves that you need to try new things on the menu. Not only is Walrus Brawl at the Mall! a great graphic novel for fans of Hazardous Tales, it enters the all-age graphic novel smackdown and lays competition to Investigators and Dog Man.

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second in this graphic novel series that adds its name to the must-read club for ages 8 and up.

Extemporaneously speaking

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3-ageless, subversive

Subversive is a fabulous adjective isn’t it? In the case of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3: Fiendish Fables of Devilish Delicacies it’s playful subversion twice removed. The source material is an older television show that produces a silly, surreal, violent, edgy, and relevant Halloween special that produced a different story, in the same vein, for its comic book. The result is an omnibus of some of the most creative, absurd, varied, chaotic, and entertaining graphic novel madness that you’ll experience, that is, if you’re a fan of The Simpsons.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3 is a collection of stories from the comic books that have stood the test of time.

The cover glows in the dark, and its content is just as great

Ready or Not, a teen-graphic novel that’s build just for them

Ready or Not is a graphic novel that isn’t quite what you think it will be. The cover shows a group of four upper-teenage friends on the roof discussing and looking like the typical teens who might have just graduated from high school. One of them is even wearing a beanie in early August, which is a fashion statement for the only 17-year-olds or those who can’t discern when their body temperature is uncomfortably hot and if only there were something simple that they could do like remove a wool cap. Now get off of my lawn. Ready or Not is an example of the graphic novel as a communication device for high school readers who need to see that people are just like them. Other teens, even ones that are shown in a graphic novel, but are in their same generation, will empathize with the characters and hopefully apply those lessons to themselves.

Ready or Not is a coming-of-age graphic novel geared at high school students that’s better than you think it is.

high school teen Breakfast Club Jam

Uncle Sam: Special Election Edition, a searing, timeless graphic novel

There’s something special about a book being out of print for a while. The classic animated Disney films used to go “in the vault” and then had a big hoop-de-do when they could be viewed again. Uncle Sam: Special Election Edition was out of print for over a decade. The only way to get your hands on it was to find the original two-issue comic book miniseries from 1997 or the graphic novel that followed its release. The 2024 presidential election is nigh and Uncle Sam: Special Election Edition is as pointed and aware as it was when it was originally released. It’s a beautiful, paranoid fever dream of a graphic novel that sears its way through the political spectrum leaving both sides wondering what went wrong with modern America.

Uncle Sam: Special Election Edition is a reissued, timeless, relevant graphic novel that’s just as powerful, now as it was in 1997.

Wow. A graphic novel that commands your attention.

Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales, effortless charm in any season

When I was a child Peanuts was my go-to reading jam. It was the gateway cartoon strip that made me learn to love reading, built up from that, but never left the rearview mirror, and has always been somewhere in my pop culture Venn diagram. Wherever I’ve travelled it’s been like that too. Snoopy, Woodstock, and to an extent, all of the characters from Peanuts have a warm place in society’s heart. The Peanuts brand is still producing great, new stories that will entertain existing fans and will bring the magic of a happy yellow bird to new audiences. Peanuts Graphic Novels has a collection of summer camp-themed stories called Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales that will do just that.

Snoopy’s Beagle Scout Tales: Peanuts Graphic Novels is the summer-themed collection of new and old stories and strips that can be read in any season.

Timeless, yet new, with some classic bits too

Tater Tales 2: The King of the World, a whole new rot (ten) world

The world of a character is only as big as the fishbowl it lives in. In the world of Rot, a mutant potato; he’s gone from solo stories to familial adventures that have taken place in illustrated books and early reader graphic novels. Tater Tales 2: The King of the World is the second release in this heavily illustrated chapter book series. One could also say that this is the second release in this early reader graphic novel series, and you’d be correct in that observation too. Whichever camp you’re in, this series is a knock-down great time, a hootenanny of early-elementary school joy that kids will laugh at as it’s read to them or grin with silent pleasure as they read it to themselves.

Tater Tales 2: The King of the World! establishes Ben Clanton’s Rot in an all-age graphic novel world of silliness, intelligence, and laughter.

Comfort food classic, but in a new, shiny wrapper.

The Avengers: Heroes, Icons, Assembled is the full-package

On the surface, it’s a very simple thing that The Avengers: Heroes, Icons, Assembled does well. It takes the potentially complex plot of comic books, specifically The Avengers, and distills their existence since 1963 into something understandable, approachable and entertaining. This is a reference book-style collection of the super team’s history that all but jumps off of the pages and makes you wish that you’d been reading along with it since their inception. But that’s coming from a comic book kid who wishes that they had a time machine to go back and collect the series from when they first saw them in the bookstore. It serves as a bridge for the comic book casual, comfort food for the faithful and an example of a pop culture time capsule that’s as comfortable in a library as it is in your living room.

The Avengers: Heroes, Icons, Assembled is encyclopedic at first, but is fun, digestible look at the superhero team in comic books.

Leisure reading, encyclopedic and ripping fun